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I am also thinking of offering a bulk upload system driven by csv files.
That’s what I do with my site. A csv file directly into the mysql database.
One suggestion I would make would be the ability to recognize path statements for files stored on another server. My WordPress site is hosted one place but all the music files are in a bucket on Amazon S3 servers.
>Wordpress is based on mysql/php.
Right, so is Drupal and Oscommerce and many other CMS platforms.
My point being that you would have to hire a WordPress, or Drupal or Oscommerce specific programmer to create anything on those platforms because you have to work in the specific confines of those platforms.I chose to ‘roll my own’ rather than fight with limitations of the different systems available that sit on top of mysql and also because there are tons of inexpensive php programmers out there. wordpress and drupal not so cheap.
Maybe you thought my reference to CGI was meant for WordPress? I just meant that most software packages being sold are blackbox-like scripts that are not editable by the user. Our system would not be a black box.
wordpress and drupal not so cheap.
Agree!
Our system would not be a black box.
Got it, thanks.
Hi Mark ,looks like a good idea to me ,so 195 $ and one can have it’s own library ,so it will basically take care of programming thing.
What about the the legal and contracts with clients administrative matters ,will the composer be on it’s own or will there be some option going through Ml with certain split .
When I was thinking about starting my own library one of the discouraging issues was the different licensing contracts and legal papers hassle.
>the ability to recognize path statements for files stored on another server.
Great suggestion. Thanks Art.
>What about the the legal and contracts with clients administrative matters
This is all taken care of automatically within the system. Clients receive their license via email and all accounting and administration is automatic. You will rarely ever have to talk to or interact with a client using our system, unless you want to of course.
So basically composer’s effort on promoting his site versuscomposer’s effort on getting his tracks to libraries, tags and discriptions ,as I see it
big plus is,composer gets the whole fee
What can happen also that ifcomposers sell cheaper on their site the same tracks as selling on other RF libs ,the customers mightl end up buing it from composers on their site (unless of course they are getting it through some kind of blanket deal with RF library)
This will seem advantageous to the composers since the customers will be windowshoping in RF libraries and buing at the composer’s site ,cool
Though not so sure how the RF libraries will react to this kind thing if it picks up.
But here I see another bussiness model emerging,Rf libraries turning into sort of showcase sites for composers catalogues and paid by comission of the sells or subscriptions instead of license fee split .(this might also solve the issue of google positioning battle which in this scenario wouldn’t have to be done by the composer )
oops, maybe I have gone too far now but who knows what future brings
In most cases composers would sell on multiple RF sites anyway and I think that competition among RF sites are much stronger than the competition they would feel from composers setting up their own sites. It would take a lot of advertising and admin to really compete with the big RF libraries and most composers would probably not aim for that.
But this package from Mark Lewis would be a great option for composers who has already got some clients they work with and would like to offer their catalogue to them.
As far as pricing concerns I`m not sure if you would benefit very much from selling tracks cheaper on your own site. My guess is that most customers would probably go to your site because they really wants to buy your music and in one way or another have been pointed to your site, and probably not because they are searching/googling and shopping around for the best price.
I think Mark’s product is a great option for an additional revenue stream.
I don’t see it  as  a threat to existing RF sites. You will not be able to duplicate the investment of dollars and man hours of libraries like AudioSparx and Musicloops.
My questions for Mark and Art are:
1) What size catalog do you think is necessary to make a viable option,
2) how much variety should the catalog have
3) is it manageable for one (or two) people without taking away too much composing time?
I’m definitely interested.
_MichaelL
I don’t see it as a threat to existing RF sites. You will not be able to duplicate the investment of dollars and man hours of libraries like AudioSparx and Musicloops.
I agree.
1) What size catalog do you think is necessary to make a viable option,
To a some degree I’m not sure that matters (certainly in the high hundreds but I do not have facts to back that up). It’s going to be more about marketing, SEO, social media, etc. Getting ones head around how best to that will be key IMHO. I would imagine the approach will be different for each person.
2) how much variety should the catalog have?
I would think as much as possible.
3) is it manageable for one (or two) people without taking away too much composing time?
It will take time, lots of it but I enjoy the aspect of building something I have control over. I look at the number of tracks I have and know that most of them have sold somewhere. To me it’s a numbers game of getting in front of as many buyers as possible. That’s a challenge I enjoy taking on, sometimes more than composing.
@soundslikejoe
>Do you have an ETA or even a wild guess at your development schedule?I would like to get it done within 3 months but I imagine it will be more like 6.
@andrej
>oops, maybe I have gone too far now but who knows what future bringsI think you might be over-thinking this a bit Andrej.
Lots of people still have that very old fashioned notion about websites where they believe “if I build it they will come”. It takes a lot more than just throwing up a website, no matter how well designed, to get customers to find it and then to take their credit card out of their pocket and purchase your music.
Being a composer myself I originally started PIR to try and help other composers get their music out there in front of people who need music. Now that I have spent 10 years developing a system that is pretty good at doing that I think it would now be cool to share that system with other composers so they don’t have to re-invent the wheel just get their music available on their own website.
Not looking to disrupt any industries here Andrej, just trying to help out 😉@Kenny
>a great option for composers who has already got some clients they work with…Exactly.
@MichaelL
1) What size catalog do you think is necessary to make a viable option? 2) how much variety should the catalog have?If the site is used in the way Kenny has described above then any size/variety is viable. If your customer already knows he wants to license a piece of music from you then you can simply send him a link and you’re done.
3) is it manageable for one (or two) people without taking away too much composing time?
In regards to this proposed system yes, definitely. I would include all of the features that I have created over the last 10 years that make ML manageable for me on a daily basis.
Things like
– FAQ/Contact system that automatically answers common questions before the user has a chance to send you an email.
– If a customer wasn’t able to download in the checkout process for some reason there is a one click system in the admin to send a new download link via email
– Foolproof checkout so there are almost no failed downloads or payments.
– Easy upload system via media bin or bulk upload via csv
– Easy song management with block, delete, update details, etc
– RSS feeds for new music additions that can automatically populate your twitter and facebook feeds with links to your latest uploads
– If you have the publisher’s edition and have to pay lots of composers that is all done automatically via paypal (It now takes me 3 minutes to pay 150 composers where it used to take 2 days)
– Automatic newsletter signup in checkout.
– Automatic MP3 preview watermarkingbtw- I recently hired our first employee here in Barcelona and among other things he is training to do the ML music approvals. The only part of ML that has got to the point where I cannot handle it alone is the music approvals. 500 songs every two weeks are being uploaded at this point.
Jordi is doing a great job at approving the new tracks and I’m sure current ML composers will be very happy to hear that I’ve hired someone to take on that part of the job.Thanks Art and Mark for your replies.
Cheers,
MichaelL
This seems very interesting, I haven’t a clue about the technicalities but I assume a Mac mini server, or similar, would be all the hardware you would need. I would definitely be interested
Hi Denis, yes the idea would be if that you can run a WordPress blog on your server you will be able to run the basic install of this music licensing software as well. Some of the more advanced features may need installation of special software libraries though.
Another cool thing about this system is that it will come with basic support.
I am going in direct partnership with my programmer on this project and he will be providing installation support to our customers and basic answering of questions for any problems that may arise.
A much better solution than coming directly to me for tech support I think 🙂I guess I’m confused. This came up a few months ago in this thread https://musiclibraryreport.com/forums/topic/production-music-libraries-startup-costs/page/2/ and when some vendors chimed in to talk about their products (including one that I personally invited to respond to a question) the posts were deleted and the vendors given the bum’s rush. Have the rules changed? Are commercial vendors now allowed to discuss their product development and solicit business in the forums?
There’s a LOT of activity going on in this space right now, and a lot of what you folks on this thread are looking for is available right now. Might be a good way to see if your business model is viable before investing big bucks.
But, is this type of discussion allowed, or not? Can’t figure it out.
Doug R. (library producer from the evil empire)